Portable morse code signaling device

ABSTRACT

A signaling device for producing a light that flashes a Morse code signal. A light source is energized by a source of energy and circuit means are provided to energize the light source according to an output signal from a shift register comprised of a plurality of flip-flops. A diode encoder having a plurality of switches is provided to select flip-flops that are to be set which, upon clearing of the shift register, provides a Morse code signal. A first oscillator is provided to pulse the shift register and a second oscillator is provided to pulse the diode encoder for resetting the flip-flops.

United States Patet Johnson et a].

54] PORTABLE MORSE CODE SIGNALING 3,142,052 7/1964 Tambert ..340/321DEVICE 3,300,582 1/1967 Himes et 31.. ..340/345 x ,4 6, 94 l 7 E l 17[72] Inventors: Donald W. Johnson, Linton; Ronald J. 3 9 2 2/ 9 manue s8/26 x 2222 35 32? f wheelock Primary ExaminerHarold I. PittsAttorney-R. S. Sciascia, H. H. Losche and Paul S. Collignon [73]Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretaryof the Navy [57] ABSTRACT Filed! 1970 A signaling device for producing alight that flashes a Morse code signal. A light source is energized by asource of energy [21] Appl. No.. 101,693

and circuit means are provided to energize the light source according toan output signal from a shift register comprised of a [52] US. Cl..340/32l R, 1178/26 R, 340/345 R plurality of flip flops A diodeencoder having a plurality f [51] [I'll- Cl. .......H04f /04 Switches isprovided to Select i fl that are to be Set Fleld of Search which, pclearing of he register, provides a Morse code signal. A firstoscillator is provided to pulse the shift re- [56] References Citedgister and a second oscillator is provided to pulse the diode en- UNITEDSTATES PATENTS coder for resetting the flip-flops. 3,021,516 2/1962Spitz et al. ..340/345 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures 34 A J (9) T LETTER m1 d SELECTOR TONE OSCILLATOR M g GATE DIODE ENCODER FF OSCILLATOR 0(0)(f) 6! 62 53 -64 59 -74 68 f r PERIOD SHIFT POWER OSCIL LATOR BLFFER (u)REGISTER GATE h AMPLIFIER PATENTEDJUH 6 1972 saw 1n? 3 Fig.1

LETTER CODE IN VENTORS. DONALD W. JOHNSON Fig.5

RZIIZALVD J .STOVALL R A. w/-/ BLOCK BYWMPZWQZ AT TORNEYS PORTABLE MORSECODE SIGNALING DEVICE STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT INTEREST The inventiondescribed herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Governmentof the United States of America for governmental purposes without thepayment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a hand-heldsignaling device and more particularly to a signaling device which willflash an infrared Morse code signal.

Various hand-held signaling devices are available for flashing Morsecoded signals. For example, in U. S. Pat. No. 3,001,185, which issuedSept. 19, 1961, to Charles L. Cleek, there is shown a hand-heldsignaling device which has a shutter that is mechanically actuated bydepressing a trigger. The depression of the trigger also closes anormally open circuit and energizes a light source.

Another signaling device is shown in U. S. Pat. No. 3,142,052, whichissued July 21, 1964, to N. E. Tarnbert. A spring wound motor isprovided for driving an electric genera tor and a rotatable contactmember. The generator energizes a light source and the rotatable contactmember engages a plurality of spaced contacts to open and close acircuit thereby de-energizing and energizing the light source.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a signalingdevice which flashes a coded signal which is electronically generated. Aselector ring is provided for selecting one pair of a plurality of pairsof letters which can be generated. A shift register having a pluralityof flip-flops is provided and a first oscillator is provided for pulsingthe shift register which, upon clearing, provides a coded output whichcauses a light emitting diode to be energized and de-energized. A secondoscillator is provided to pulse an encoder which selects differentletters which are to be transmitted and resets the flip-flops in theshift register. A tone oscillator is also provided so that an audiosignal can be received by a viewer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERREDEMBODIMENT Referring first to FIG. 1 of the drawing there is shown ahand-held signaling device having a case 11, off-on switch 12, codeselector ring 13, light source 14 and lens 15. By way of example, inorder to make the case ll more water-tight, offon switch 12 and aplurality of switches which are operated by code selector ring 13, mightbe of the reed type which are pivotable by magnetic means. Batteries l6are provided for energizing light source 14.

Referring now to FIGS. 2, 3, and of the drawings, formation of Morsecode letters is accomplished by presetting specific flip-flops in ashift register 17 and then clearing shift register 17 by pulsing thecommon shift line 18. shift register 17 is made up of eight flip-flops21-28 and the common shift line 18 is supplied with pulses from periodoscillator 29 which is comprised of transistors 31 and 32. Anon-inverting buffer 33 provides the necessary current to drive shifiline 18. Shift line 18 is continuously pulsed which results in acontinuous clearing of the flip-flops in shift register 17.

A diode encoder 34 is provided to select a particular pair of lettersthat are to be generated from the output of shift register 17. Switches41-48 are provided in diode encoder 34, along with diodes 51-57, and aparticular pair of switches are selected and closed by operating codeselector ring 13. As shown in FIG. 3 of the drawings switches 41 and 42are paired, 43 and 44 are paired, 45 and 46 are paired, and 47 and 48are paired.

A pair of input lines 58 and 59 are provided for encoder 34 and the setterminals of flip-flops 22, 24, 26, and 28 are connected to lines 58 and59. Isolation diode 51 is placed between line 58 and the set temiinalsof flip-flops 22, 24, 26, and 28, and likewise, isolation diode 52 isplaced between line 59 and the set terminals of flip-flops 22, 24, 26,and 28. It can thus be seen that flip-flops 22, 24, 26, and 28 are setwhen either line 58 or line 59 is pulsed. The set temrinal of flip-flop23 is connected to line 58 through switch 42 and isolation diode 57 andalso the set terminal of flip-flop 23 is connected to line 59 throughswitch 45 and isolation diode 56. Additionally, the set temrinal offlip-flop23 is connected to line 59 through switch 47 and diode 57. Theset temrinal of flip-flop 25 is connected to line 59 through switch 41and isolation diode 55. The set terminal of flip-flop 27 is connected toline 58 through switch 44 and isolation diode 53 and also to line 59through switch 43 and isolation diode 54. Letter oscillator 61 isprovided for pulsing encoder 34 and non-inverting buffer 62 provides thenecessary current. Lines 58 and 59 are alternately pulsed to achieve thetwo letter Morse code combinations which result from a particular switchsetting. As shown in FIG. 5 of the drawings, when switches 41 and 42 areclosed, the letters R and D are formed, when switches 43 and 44 areclosed, the letters M and U are formed, when switches 45 and 46 areclosed, the letters M and H are formed, and when switches 47 and 48 areclosed, the letters D and H are formed.

Alternate pulses on lines 58 and 59 result from the NAND logic betweenflip-flop 63 and selector gate 64, which includes two NAND gates 65 and66. Flip-flop 63 is toggled by the buffered output of letter oscillator61 and the output of NAND gate 65 is high when the 1 output of flip-flop63 is low and the A output of buffer 62 goes low. This logical conditionis satisfied with every other pulse from letter oscillator 61. Theoutput of NAND gate 66 goes high when the 0 output of flipflop 63 goeslow at the same time the A output of buffer 62 is low.

The output voltage taken from flip-flop 21, which is represented aswaveform g in FIG. '4 of the drawings, provides one source of thedriving voltage for current amplifier 67 which drives light emittingdiode 68. In order to provide an audio signal as well as a visual one,the coded driving voltage is interrupted at an audio rate. The actualdriving voltage applied to current amplifier 67, which includestransistors 71, 72, and 73, is a composite voltage logically generatedfrom the output of shift register 17 and a tone oscillator 74. Voltageis applied to the input of transistor 71 only when the outputs from flipflop 21 and flip-flop 75 are in their low states. As shown in FIGS. 2and 3 of the drawings, the output of flip-flop 21 and the output offlip-flop 75 are combined in NAND gate 76.

Tone oscillator 74 is comprised of a unijunction transistor 77 utilizedin a relaxation circuit comprised of resistors 81, 82, and 83 andcapacitor 84. The output across resistor 83 is used to overdrive avoltage amplifier circuit comprised of transistor 85 and resistor 86.This arrangement serves to square the output waveform and make itcompatible with the toggle input of flip-flop 75. Flip-flop 75 serves togenerate a square wave voltage used for one logic input to NAND gate 76,with the other logic input being supplied from flip-flop 21 in shiftregister 17.

In operation, assuming the letters D and R are to be transmitted inMorse code, selector ring 13 is turned to a marked position and switches41 and 42 are closed. The other switches in encoder 34 remain open. Thebuffered output from letter oscillator 61 alternately pulses input lines58 and 59. (See waveform b of FIG. 4). Assuming that line 58 is firstpulse,

(see waveform e) flip-flops 22, 23, 24, 26 and 28 are set, as shown inFIGS. 3'and 5 of the drawings, due to switch 42 being closed. Next theperiod oscillator 29 will provide pulses, to the common shift line 18 ofshift register 17. (See waveform a of FIG. 4). The output from flip-flop21 will represent, in Morse code, the letter D (see waveform g) and thisoutput is supplied as one input to gate 76. Tone oscillator 74 alsosupplies an output to gate 76 and the output from gate 76, which isillustrated as waveform h in FIG. 4, is supplied to amplifier 76 andlight emitting diode 68. By way of example, diode 68 might be of thetype PEX 1206 manufactured by Texas Instruments, Inc., Dallas, Texas,and which is designed to emit nearinfrared light when forward biased. Itshould be noted that the device shown in FIG. 3 does not transmit anysound, but

rather is designed so that the infrared light can be detected and thenconverted into sound by an appropriate receiver.

As shown by waveforms c and d of FIG. 4, the outputs of flip-flop 63alternately go high and low, which alternately pulses lines 58 and 59.When line 59 is pulsed, (see waveform f) flip-flops 22, 24, 25, 26, and28 are set, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5 of the drawings, due to switch 41being closed. Pulses from period oscillator 29, which are applied tocommon shift line 18, will clear shift register 17 and the output fromflip-flop 21 will represent, in Morse code, the letter R As long asswitches 41 and 42 remain closed, and with lines 58 and 59 beingalternately pulsed, the letters D and R will be alternately including asource of energy,

a shift register having a plurality of flip-flops for intermittentlyclosing said normally open circuit means and energizing said lightsource,

an encoder having a plurality of switches arranged in first and secondcircuit paths and connected to selected flipflops in said shiftregister,

a first oscillator connected to said shift register for pulsing andclearing said flip-flops in said shift register,

a second oscillator, and

a selector gate connected between said second oscillator and saidencoder for alternately switching the output of said second oscillatorto said first and second circuit paths whereby a first arrangement offlip-flop settings is made in said shift register when said firstcircuit path is connected between said encoder and said shift registerthereby intermittently energizing said light source to flash in MorseCode a first alphabetical letter when said shift register is pulsed andcleared, and whereby a second arrangement of flip-flop settings is madein said shift register when said second circuit path is connectedbetween said encoder and said shift register thereby intermittentlyenergizing said light source to flash in Morse Code a secondalphabetical letter different from said first alphabetical letter whensaid shift register is pulsed and cleared.

2. A hand-held signaling device as set forth in claim 1 wherein saidlight source is a light emitting diode.

3. A hand-held signaling device as set forth in claim I having a toneoscillator and a NAND gate for combining the output of said shiftregister and the output of said tone oscillator whereby the output ofsaid shift register is interrupted at an audio rate.

1. A hand-held signaling device for flashing light in Morse Codecomprising, a light source, normally open circuit means for energizingsaid light source including a source of energy, a shift register havinga plurality of flip-flops for intermittently closing said normally opencircuit means and energizing said light source, an encoder having aplurality of switches arranged in first and second circuit paths andconnected to selected flip-flops in said shift register, a firstoscillator connected to said shift register for pulsing and clearingsaid flip-flops in said shift register, a second oscillator, and aselector gate connected between said second oscillator and Said encoderfor alternately switching the output of said second oscillator to saidfirst and second circuit paths whereby a first arrangement of flip-flopsettings is made in said shift register when said first circuit path isconnected between said encoder and said shift register therebyintermittently energizing said light source to flash in Morse Code afirst alphabetical letter when said shift register is pulsed andcleared, and whereby a second arrangement of flipflop settings is madein said shift register when said second circuit path is connectedbetween said encoder and said shift register thereby intermittentlyenergizing said light source to flash in Morse Code a secondalphabetical letter different from said first alphabetical letter whensaid shift register is pulsed and cleared.
 2. A hand-held signalingdevice as set forth in claim 1 wherein said light source is a lightemitting diode.
 3. A hand-held signaling device as set forth in claim 1having a tone oscillator and a NAND gate for combining the output ofsaid shift register and the output of said tone oscillator whereby theoutput of said shift register is interrupted at an audio rate.